It wasn’t John Martellaro’s fault. His rental car’s registration had expired, so he was pulled over twice and ticked on his way to the Philadelphia airport. “Clearly, that was Hertz’ responsibility,” he says. “Not mine.”

Or was it? Martellaro handed the citations to a rental agent, who assured him she would “take care of it,” he says. But a few weeks later, he received an unpaid ticket notice from the state of Pennsylvania, and although he contacted Hertz and was again assured that the ticket would be fixed, nothing happened.

Fast-forward eight months. Hertz’ collection agency, ATS Processing Services, sent Martellaro a letter demanding he reimburse the car rental company for the tickets. “I called them and was told that I had to call the district court in Pennsylvania, get a copy of the ticket, and prove to them that it was for something over which I had no control — in other words, that it was their failure to get the vehicle properly inspected,” he says.